The Flash and The Ray go face-to-face with the Spear of Destiny! But… which Flash? Your Major Spoilers review of The Flash #770 from DC Comics awaits!
THE FLASH #770
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artist: Jack Herbert/Brandon Peterson/Kevin MaGuire
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Mike Cotton
Publisher: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 18, 2021
Previously in The Flash: Dropped into the battlefields of World War II, Wally West continues his search for a way home. As the Fastest Man Alive comes face to face with the Führer himself, Wally’s friends in the present day search for a way to bring him back and an answer to why he’s stuck leaping from speedster to speedster throughout time.
THE FLASH AND THE RAY
In the Oval Office, President Franklin D. Roosevelt has a special mission for two of the new-fangled mystery-men: “Gentlemen, how would you like to end this war?” Cut to the Pacific Theatre, as The Flash and The Ray drop in to a secret island base in the hopes of tracking down the legendary Spear of Destiny, finally taking away the Axis’ edge over the superhumans. Unfortunately, a super called Parsifal is also there, negating the respective speed powers, and leading Ray and Happy to get captured and taken into custody. For weeks the heroes are interrogated and beaten, finally arriving back in Berlin, where The Spear falls into absolutely the wrong hands, combining with a Speed Force energy surge to empower Hitler himself with super-powers. That’s when Wally West arrives, his mind taking over Jay’s body to deal with the energy surge, as he has been for several issues now. Thanks to a little help from his brain-trust in the future, the speedster and The Ray tackle the Fuhrer and his spear head on before Wally leaps to a new time and place.
FROM THE PAGES OF ‘THE GOLDEN AGE’
This issue is an interesting one, as it combines the retcon from ‘The Golden Age’ (wherein Parsifal, and not the Spear itself, drained the powers of superheroes) while also keeping the Roy Thomas plot point that the Spear of Destiny is a super-powerful holy artifact. My favorite part of the issue is the interaction between an impulsive young Jay Garrick (albeit one who already has white in his hair, for some reason) and the terse and stoic Happy Terrill, as Adams quickly and effectively builds a friendship between the two men with dialogue and action. By the time Wally arrives, The Ray is officially worried about his new friend’s mind, and it’s completely believable. The art is also really good, and I’m amused by the lengths to which Herbert goes to not show swastikas, altering all the logos to show the Iron Eagle symbol instead. It’s still clearly recognizable as the bad guys, though, and I understand why they had to do it. As the issue ends, Wally is thankful to have gotten to see young jay in action, and leaps…
…into the body of Reverse-Flash, as he is inducted into the Legion of Doom!
BOTTOM LINE: THE LAST PAGE IS THE KICKER!
I want to read the next issue right now, thanks to that final Kevin MaGuire Super Friends-inspired page, but The Flash #770 is really good all the way through, playing with time and space and two interesting superheroes, with three talented art teams rocking it and a fun premise making for a well-deserved 4.5 out of 5 stars overall. This new era of Flash celebrates Jay and Wally as well as Saint Barry, and I couldn’t be happier to see it succeed.
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THE FLASH #770
This book is inventive, fun and even with some artistic oddities to get around certain... issues, it's stunning to look at. Plus, we get young Jay Garrick in action! What's not to love?
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Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.